Arrows of criticism flew in the presidential debate on national defense: both one of the candidates and a former minister got in the way

Andrius Mazuronis, the presidential candidate nominated by the Labor Party, said that he does not support the idea of ​​a general election. In his belief, first of all, priority should be given to strengthening the professional army, the international contingent in the country.

“We support what the Government is proposing regarding the provision of a professional army, we support the presence of an international contingent in Lithuania. However, when we talk about universal mandatory conscription and the model that is now proposed by the Government – 6 months long, it is probably obvious to everyone and the army leadership explained that even 9 months is too short a period of time for the conscript to acquire basic skills. By shortening it to 6 months and increasing conscription to universality, 8-10 thousand conscripts, we would not have the infrastructure, it would be very expensive”, A. Mazuronis taught.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, the candidate for the presidency of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, claimed that universal conscription is an aspiration that should be progressed in stages.

“The fact that there is no infrastructure to the extent that we can immediately switch to universal mandatory conscription is a fact, but it is not a reason not to create that infrastructure and not to train instructors who should teach conscripts and constantly update their skills,” the presidential candidate taught.

The current leader of the country, Gitanas Nausėda, who is seeking a second presidential term, did not hide that he believes that universal conscription into compulsory military service should be pursued, but, according to him, the professional army should be strengthened at the same time.

“Our professional army, instead of 13 thousand, does not even have 12 thousand. We collect 3.5-3.8 thousand conscripts instead of 4 thousand. The volunteer part of the army is 6 thousand, so it is very difficult for us to talk about those 28 thousand as the Lithuanian army, when we barely exceed the number of 20 thousand. Therefore, I say yes to the reform of compulsory conscription. Of course, it has to be implemented intelligently. A clear system, clear principles would allow us to form a sufficient number of conscripts primarily through general conscription, which would have a positive impact primarily on the active army reserve”, commented G. Nausėda.

Eduardas Vaitkus, a self-nominated presidential candidate, emphasized that he does not support the idea of ​​a general election. He suggested, first of all, to try to take into account the interests of neighboring countries and try to avoid war.

“Universal conscription does not solve any security or defense problems of Lithuania. The example of Ukraine these days demonstrates the same. Cannon fodder is needed if we decide on the territory of Lithuania, but for that we also need diplomacy so that there is no war, no war”, explained the presidential candidate.

“If we recognize the interests of other countries, which we must take into account, just as other countries recognize the interests of Lithuania, then there is nothing to fight about, we can all agree on everything. The bottom line is that no amount of troops will ever protect. Let a million soldiers be in Lithuania – they will not protect Lithuania. “Let us allocate 20 billion euros a year – our entire budget – to war, we will not be saved from our wrong foreign policy and no general appeal will help us,” explained the presidential candidate.

Giedrimas Jeglinskas, who is nominated for the presidency of the Democratic Union “Vardan Lietuvos”, emphasized that, first of all, it is necessary to clearly answer the question of what the general election system should be and what it would aim for. The candidate suggested strengthening the professional army. According to him, if this is done, the number of conscripts themselves will start to grow.

“We have to do everything we can to give those young men enough experience that they come out more confident, true patriots to go into the reserves.” We have to ask the question, why are we doing the calling? Top up the reserve? Do we want to strengthen civil society? I think those two questions are not mutually exclusive. When we create a division, the growing number of professionals will also enable the increased number of conscripts”, commented G. Jeglinskas.

Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the presidential candidate of the “Nemuno Aušra” party, said that he is currently refraining from the idea of ​​a general election, because, according to him, the question of how much such a measure would cost Lithuania is not answered.

There is no telling how much it will cost us, there is no telling what benefits we will have. Another thing is public involvement. You include hunters, you include firefighters, you include other officers that are not included at all for the day. “Hunters today are probably the largest group in society, which are the best armed, have the best equipment,” the candidate pondered.

The candidate for the presidency of the Freedom Party, Dainius Žalimas, for his part, urged to look at the general conscription as an opportunity, so that those persons whose physical fitness or health do not meet the standards could also contribute to the national defense.

“We understand the state’s limited capabilities, so they need to be increased. The cut-off (draft – ELTA) numbers are growing every year and it is obvious that we will probably get closer to that real universal (draft – ELTA) if we are serious about creating a national division. (…) I imagine universal conscription in such a way that it is possible to apply the knowledge of those who are not suitable in terms of physical training, but may be suitable in terms of intellectual knowledge, in the army. I have already talked about drone operators, the development of cyber capabilities,” D. Žalimas taught.

Self-nominated presidential candidate Ignas Vēgėlė called, above all, for more investment in the professional army. According to him, instead of general conscription, the introduction of military training courses, which would be mandatory for all, could be taken.

“I think now we should invest in a professional army, we should invest in military training courses, and I think we should liberalize the acquisition of weapons in certain aspects. So that citizens can engage in universal defense, if necessary, but do so only for the purposes of peace and deterrence, so that the potential enemy knows that everyone has a weapon and can defend the state in the event of such an accident,” said I. Vēgėlė.

The President and the Prime Minister sharply reacted to the statements of E. Vaitkaus
Prime Minister I. Šimonytė, the conservative candidate for president, did not hide her surprise at the candidate’s reasoning, responding to E. Vaitkaus’ calls to respect the interests of neighboring states.

“His foreign policy is probably to surrender immediately, join the Kremlin and not have to go to war with anyone,” I. Šimonytė told E. Vaitka.

The current leader of the country, G. Nausėda, also reacted to E. Vaitkaus’s criticism of Lithuanian foreign politicians. He questioned whether the candidate understood what position he was applying for.

“Do you know that we are talking here, among other things, and there are candidates for the post, which will be called the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Are you going to lead the pigeons or what?”, asked G. Nausėda.
E. Vaitkus responded to G. Nausėdai, asserting that Lithuania is already ready for war.

“Candidate Gitanas Nausėda explained, I understood that we are already ready to go to war and I understood that Lithuanian soldiers will already be sent to fight for the freedom of Lithuania in Ukraine. This means the soldiers will already be there,” he commented.

G. Nausėda noted that Lithuania does not send soldiers to Ukraine. “No soldiers will be there, at least no one is talking about it at the moment. And there is no need to distort the ideas that President Macron provides. And I repeat once again that we are doing everything so that there is no war,” the presidential candidate taught.

When the candidates discussed the further financing of national defense, there was no lack of criticism of the current Government. Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas, who was asked by the Prime Minister to resign from his post, was recalled during the debate.

“The war has been going on for two and a half years, and the fact that a minister has been working for a total of three and a half years, who in fact has not worked well, is a shame for our country. This should not be acceptable in these times when there are such threats”, said G. Jeglinskas.

“In the formation of the government, it is extremely important that we have real experts, real people with a vision with competencies and leadership,” said the candidate nominated by “Vardan Lietuvos” during the debate.

“We have an excellent minister of national defense,” I. Šimonytė responded to the criticism, to which “worker” A. Mazuronis was quick to respond.

“I agree, it’s just a shame that he’s been in the job for the last few months of this entire term, while a less successful minister has been in office for three and a half years.” Apparently, we have certain consequences from this”, asserted the chairman of the Labor Party, who is targeting the president.

I. Vēgėlė emphasized the issue of transparency of the national defense system, which accompanied the resignation of A. Anušauskas. According to him, when talking about increasing defense spending, the idea of ​​auditing the national defense system should not be ruled out.

“The question of where to get the money is very simple – budget transparency. Minister Anušauskas said on his way out that the system of the Ministry of National Defense is not transparent and he had various doubts (…). In my opinion, we must have a financial audit of the Ministry of National Defense’s activities”, explained I. Vēgėlė.

However, in the opinion of G. Nausėda, who is seeking a second term, this issue has basically already been resolved.

“Dear gentlemen, it is already done. Both the State Audit Office has included in its plans, and STT will conduct investigations related to military procurement. This is definitely a priority,” the president said.